After a decisive victory against the Utah Utes on Sunday afternoon, the Lady Frogs have now set a new school record as they have won 19 consecutive home games.Led by junior guard Adrianne Ross’ game-high 22 points and six steals and junior guard Helen Roden’s tenacious defense, the Lady Frogs cruised to a 74-50 victory, redeeming their 72-61 loss on Jan. 18 in Utah. The Lady Frogs have scored more than 70 points in the last three home wins.
The Lady Frogs took command of the game from the outset and led 17-1 after only six minutes of play.
Beginning with a much needed 3-pointer by Utah’s go-to player, guard Morgan Warburton, shots began to fall for the Utes, and the lead was cut to seven with 3:23 to play in the first half.
The Utes, however, wouldn’t get any closer as the Lady Frogs reclaimed control of the game in the second half.
TCU (19-7, 9-3 conference), previously in a three-way tie for second place in the Mountain West Conference, is now the only team in second with New Mexico (19-7 overall, 9-4 conference) and Utah (16-10, 9-4) falling into third.
TCU dominated the game on the defensive end, holding the Utes 12 points under their season average and smothering the team’s star player.
Warburton’s ability to drive the ball was stifled by Roden, the Utah guard, who has averaged 20.3 points her last six outings, was held to 13 points and one assist.
“We focused on (Warburton) a lot,” senior forward Ashley Davis said.
A pregame goal for the Lady Frogs was to play with more intensity on the defensive side of the ball, TCU guard Danielle Nunn said.
“There have been a lot of defensive drills in the past four days of practice,” Nunn said. “We’ve been doing one where we play defense while holding a tennis ball in each hand.”
The relentless showing on the defensive side of the ball led to 26 Utah turnovers compared to TCU’s 12, one of the largest turnover margins this season. The play led to 30 points off of turnovers for the Lady Frogs.
While the 24-point rout of the Utes seems like a sub-par performance for the Lady Frogs, considering all six of the home conference victories have been by an average of 31.2 points, head coach Jeff Mittie said he thought the team played well against one of the best teams in the conference.
